Over the last couple hundred years, scientists have been uncovering another world – a very small world. Scientists have been realizing that there is a lot more going on around us than meets the eye… at least the naked eye.
For example, a little over two hundred years ago John Dalton discovered the atom, realizing that everything in the world is made of them. Further discoveries have revealed that atoms are incredibly small as well as indestructible. A sugar cube sized pocket of air would hold 45 billion billion molecules and a molecule has at least two atoms in it. Half a million atoms lined up next to one another could hide behind one of the hair on your head. We are made of these atoms. Bill Bryson suggests that every atom you possess has been around the solar system several times over before becoming you. We have so many atoms in us that we likely each contain a billion of Shakespeare’s atoms and a billion of Beethoven’s and Alexander the Greats’.
Learning how they work has revealed that much of what we have assumed is actually an illusion. For instance, since an atom is made up of protons, electrons and neutrons, the negative charge in the electrons actually keeps objects apart. We now know that while it appears that you are sitting on those benches, you are actually levitating above them – your electrons and the benches electrons are opposed to actually touching.
Or take bacteria for another instance. There are approximately 100,000 bacteria living on every square centimeter of your skin, munching away at your dead skin. Thousands are swimming across the surface of your eyes right now. They scoff at our anti-bacterial soap. They live on almost anything. They eat wood, glue, plutonium and even sulfuric acid strong enough to dissolve metal. They love it when we run a damp cloth across a counter, providing a haven for them to live. They freak us out but they also help us as they process our waste and purify our water and keep our soils healthy.
The world hasn’t changed that much but our perception of it has. Especially in the last century, scientists have opened us up to a whole other world… and it appears to be a very small world, after all.
It changes the way we look at things when we consider that there is life all around us that we’ve been missing, that we are blind to. There’s a lot that we’ve been unaware of. Kinda makes you wonder what else we’ve been missing?
One of the chief things Jesus was doing when he came was helping us to see that there is much more going on than meets the eye. But instead of magnifying the miniscule, he was all about broadening our view of the world we live in. Instead of turning our attention to this small unseen world, he turned our attention to see our world in another new way – offering a bird’s eye view of it.
While we have learned much about the world of bacteria and atoms, it’s our inability to understand the familiar side of our world that leaves us in a predicament. It appears that life as we know it – life that doesn’t require a magnifying glass - creates some complexity of its own for us. Divorce rates continue to rise – this tells us relationships are becoming more complicated to us. Depression is still on the rise. Stress related health issues are climbing really fast – this means we don’t even know ourselves very well. Morality is increasingly ambiguous and relative – we have a hard time defining any consistent ethical behavior. We are confused about what we’re “supposed to do” with our lives. Roles are confusing - How many times do you hear parents (especially ones of teenagers) say that their role is hard to understand? I might even argue that we’re better at navigating life at a molecular level than we are on this grand stage we’ve been on for thousands of years.We prove to be inept again and again at making life work and that is what Jesus came to put his finger on.
Jesus came to point to another reality that we were having a hard time seeing – still are having a hard time. He was uncovering a reality where God would have us transcending conventional wisdom on one level and engaging life as we know it on a whole new level. He was all about equipping us with a unique perspective to take on life in all its complexities and navigate through these issues that plague us. Have you ever had one of those moments when you go from confusion to clarity – when you’re your world opens up? Have you ever had one of those moments when life goes from feeling like a maze, to having a bird’s eye view of everything around you? The difference between confusion and clarity, chaos and coherence is a quality that anyone can have but few possess. Wisdom is a quality that enables the ordinary person to go from confusion to clarity… to go from bumping into life’s obstacles one after another to navigating life’s problems with a bird’s eye view of them. Wisdom is the skill we need in order to grasp how life works. Wisdom is the skill Jesus used to navigate his life as he faced obstacles and temptations, stress and doubt, injustice and deception.
Just as our recent awareness of bacteria changes our perspective, wisdom will change our perspective - the way we make decisions, the way we relate to one another, do business, and take care of our minds, emotions and bodies. Wisdom will open up another realm in life – a realm where life actually works.
Imagine you were born on a submarine. You get to know the inside of that submarine quite well. You know the sounds that come from different instruments. You know the shadows that are cast from different lights. You know where to duck so you don’t hit your head. But every now and then something causes the sub to shake. Every now and then something causes the sub to tilt and throw you off your feet. But you don’t know what it is. Then one day instead of hanging up-side-down from the trapeze bar in the middle of the sub you realize that you can look into it and see what’s going on above you. With the help of this newly discovered periscope, all of a sudden things come into perspective. You realize what’s thrown you off you’re feet. You realize what’s shaken your life. You’ve been in the middle of a storm or someone’s been dropping bombs around you or you’ve knocked into some icebergs.
Living life without wisdom is like living in a submarine and never using the periscope. And I have to be honest: I live that way more than I should. And I get knocked off my feet more than I need to.
The book of Proverbs says that wisdom is well worth pursuing:
Proverbs 4:5-7 says, “Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
We’re gonna spend the next few weeks in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is known as the most practical book in the Bible. It’s an ancient book categorized as “Wisdom Literature”.
Do you remember those books that came out in droves a few years ago? Books like Computers for Dummies, Cooking for Dummies, Mechanics for Dummies, Sex for Dummies? Well, Proverbs could be called Wisdom for Dummies. It’s laid out for all of us to take or leave. We don’t need a Master’s Degree or any fancy theological education to “get” Proverbs. It’s a down-to-earth book for all of us. I love this book because this is God just following us around with a platter full of treasures waiting for us to take something and benefit from it. It’s a treasure available to all who want it.
Much of Proverbs, we assume, is written by King Solomon who is considered to be one of the wisest to walk our earth and certainly one of the wealthiest. You see God offered Solomon the benefit of giving him whatever he asked for – Solomon got one special request… it was kinda like when you let a Genie out of their bottle, but not really.
Solomon had one wish. But Solomon didn’t ask for some of the things that come to mind. He didn’t ask for health or money or status or adventure or even safety – he asked for wisdom.
And I think this pleased God because wisdom ushered Solomon into God’s realm, giving Solomon a look at the world the way God looks at the world.
Listen to some of these nuggets from Solomon:
- Here’s one that pulled me through college: “A sluggard does not plow in season, so at harvest he looks but finds nothing.” (20:4) - That worked most of the time.
- You know those people who wake up in the morning with incredible amounts of energy and cheer? Their eyes have just opened (while yours are still shut) and they say things like, “Good morning sunshine!” or “Wakey, wakey eggs and bakey!”
- This is the advice Proverbs offers those people: 27:14 - “If you wake your friend in the early morning by shouting "Rise and shine!" It will sound to him more like a curse than a blessing.” How true, how true.
- Here’s a check for your close friendships: Proverbs 16:28 says, “A perverse person spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.” Does that describe any of your close friends? Be warned.
Before I go on, there’s one rule for reading and understanding these sayings of the wise:
- Proverbs are principles, not absolutes. They tell us how life works most of the time. They are not promises.
- They weren’t meant to be the hard and fast rules of life, but rules of thumb. In short, if we point ourselves in the direction they suggest, there won’t be many surprises in our lives.
Secondly, a word on what the book of Proverbs is about…
- The central message of Proverbs (particularly in first 9 chapters) is “Pursue Wisdom: your life depends on it”.
The first 9 chapters paint a picture of two paths to take in life: one is wisdom, the other folly. The rest of the book must be read in this light because the rest of the book describes life on those two different paths. It paints those paths of wisdom and folly as light and darkness, life or death. We’ll talk a little about those contrasts in a moment. Let me just say that I believe that the truths about those paths’ as set out in this book have kept me from a path to the grave more than once.
Another question: What is wisdom in the book of Proverbs?
First, maybe what it isn’t.
In our day and age, to have information is almost to rise to deity itself. “Knowledge is power” we say. In our culture we lift up knowledge through information. But in the book of proverbs, mere knowledge of information isn’t necessarily wisdom.
Also, along the same lines, wisdom isn’t intelligence. If you’ve seen or heard the news this last week you’re likely aware of a timely illustration for this. Convicted murderer Carla Homolka is known primarily for two things these days: 1) Her apathy toward the victims she helped to kill in the early 90’s and 2) her intelligence. Her I.Q. is known to be in the top 2%. She’s a smart, smart girl. But the book of Proverbs would not call her wise.
Wisdom in Proverbs as defined by Tremper Longman is “The skill of living. Wisdom entails the ability to avoid problems, and the skill to handle them when they present themselves… Wisdom is a skill, a “knowing how”; it is not raw intellect, a “knowing that.””
– Tremper Longman
Bill Hybels presents his definition of wisdom succinctly: “Wisdom is what is true and right combined with good judgment.
– Bill Hybels
In his book on Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman describes the difference between IQ and Emotional Intelligence. He says “People who have a high IQ know many facts; they can solve difficult mathematical equations. Their ability to reason and use logic is superior to others’. People with emotional intelligence have other abilities, including self control, zeal and persistence and the ability to motivate oneself. They also have abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustration; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope.” Biblical wisdom is much closer to the idea of emotional intelligence.
The book of Proverbs uses other words to partner with wisdom, adding depth to its meaning. The wise are also disciplined – they listen to correction. The wise are successful (not today’s meaning necessarily) - success means to have insight. They have understanding and knowledge – not knowledge for knowledge’s sake but for a purpose. The wise are also discreet and discerning, differentiating what to do in different circumstances. Lastly, the wise have prudence which means they carefully consider a situation before entering in.
It helps when defining something to define it’s opposite. In Proverbs, the opposite of wisdom is folly. Folly is simply the actions of a fool. And a fool is someone un-teachable, self-sufficient. In the Bible a fool can have high intelligence and have a reputation for success. What makes a fool a fool is that “their minds are closed to God, and to reason”.
– Derek Kidner
I would like to say that because I’m in this church today and that because I call myself a Christ-follower that I’m immune to folly. I hate calling myself a fool but I have to say that I fit squarely into that definition at least daily – every time I go my way instead of God’s. Sometimes I know it and act defiantly and sometimes I simply walk blindly in the wrong direction.
Today I want to talk a little on what it looks like when we don’t seek wisdom and what it looks like when we do. In order for us to take next steps with this it might be helpful to know where we stand right now. And one way we can do that is by looking at who the book of Proverbs was written to so we can see where we fit.
There are three groups of people we want to consider when looking at the audience in the book of Proverbs:
- They have listened, understood and acted on what they’ve learned. They are hungry to add to their wisdom. Longman describes a wise person as someone who “lives life with boldness in spite of inevitable difficulties”. - Longman
- To the Simple or Immature
- The Simple are neither wise nor foolish – they are unformed. But unlike the fool, they are teachable. As often as I have to claim foolishness in my life, I think I spend a considerable amount of time in this camp as well.
The Simple. Again, this does not refer to IQ. This reference has to do with the fact that they have not yet acquired wisdom.
They’ve walked past the periscope in the sub many times and they know it’s helpful but they have yet to look through it and grow their perspective and wisdom.
- The fool is not part of the audience because they are unwilling to listen. The path of the fool is a downward spiral, and that folly begets more folly and the path ends in destruction. Proverbs says a lot about the fool and his folly but it doesn’t address him because the fool isn’t coming to listen. The moment the fool turns to listen, they come out of the “fool” campand into the “immature” camp.
So where are you today? Are you stroking your chin – wise and ready to add to your wisdom? Are you stroking your chin – wise and ready to add to your wisdom? Are you on the immature side – open to learning but still feeling like life is complicated? Or are you in the fool camp thinking you’ll be fine, that you’ll figure it out? As I mentioned, I spend a fair amount of time in the fool camp and it feels crowded most days. I’ll welcome any company in crossing over that line today.
Like I said Proverbs describes two paths. One leads to wisdom, the other to folly.
So, what happens when we ignore God’s offer of wisdom? What happens when we opt for the other path?
The Bible says the path of the fool is a downward spiral. Their folly begets more folly and their path ends in destruction.
- 5:22-23 says “The evil deeds of a wicked person ensnare them; the cords of their sin hold them fast. They will die for a lack of discipline led astray by their great folly.”
- 16:22 says “Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools.”
- 17:12 says it’s “better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.”
- 26:11 says “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” Fools become blind to something better, a fool settles for life half-way.
- 27:22 says “Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them”. In other words, unless it’s knocked out of him early, a fool will almost always stay a fool. Our folly starts to feel alright to us.
- 12:15-16 says “The way of a fool seems right to them, but a wise person listens to advice. A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent person overlooks insult.
- 22:15 says “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but discipline will drive it far from them.”
- 14:12 says “There is a way that seems right to a person, but in the end it leads to death.”
We quickly go a way that seems right to us but what are our criteria? There’s a very real possibility that we’re on the wrong path but still feeling sure of ourselves. This is one of those thoughts that should cause us to evaluate… if we’re wise.
Let’s look at the flipside: What happens when we heed God’s offer of wisdom?
What are the benefits of wisdom?
Listen to Proverbs 2:10-13: “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse.”
Bill Hybels says, “One of the incomparable benefits of pursuing wisdom is that it offers us a navigational system to keep us out of moral blind alleys and dead-end roads” - Hybels
3:13-18 says Blessed is the person who finds wisdom, the person who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths lead to peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.”
Did you hear that? Nothing you desire can compare with her. Step out in faith and believe that to be true. How badly do you desire companionship? How much do you desire wealth or strong health or a nice body? How much do you desire to acquire that dream job? Is power appealing to you? How about fame? Care for a new car or a big flat-screen TV? Nothing you desire can compare with wisdom. She is better, pursue her.
I said earlier that Solomon was one of the wisest people to walk our earth. Well I believe that Jesus is the wisest. When it came to choosing one of the two paths for his life, Jesus consistently made the right choice and lived life in it’s fullness.
Most of us would agree that living life to the full is our goal. I don’t believe we can live our lives to the full without first having spent some significant time on the wisdom path. I believe that if we are carrying a lot of baggage from the path of folly we will be unable to capture all life’s meaning.
I’m gonna jump to a conclusion today. It’s not a guess, it’s my conclusion based on what I’ve experienced, what I’ve understood through scripture and what I’ve seen in those who have gone before us. I’m assuming that in each one of our lives, God wants to call us to something, something bigger than ourselves. It may not be highlight reel big or even family gossip big, but I believe he is continually walking each of us to an edge from which we need to jump. I believe that he is always at work in our lives to move us to the edge of our comfort so we can jump into something… …something dangerous, something risky, something uncomfortable, something presently shrouded in fear, something that makes us swallow hard. I hate when he does this. I hate it until either I ignore it enough and become deaf to his call or until I jump.
I see this call in the life of Jesus. He spent his life this way. He was continuously jumping off cliffs, over chasms, through hoops of fire. His life was risk after risk, adventure after adventure, and fear after fear… and it was full and it was good. We most often focus on the most daring jump he made in his life - His leap onto the cross. What a call to answer! The call from his Father in Heaven was: “Give your life to save many lives… Walk into to despair in order to provide hope… Give up your rights so those who’ve forfeited theirs can have a new beginning… Walk alone into darkness so strangers can experience light.” This was a call to something big and dangerous and covered in fear. How could he answer it?
It’s not without good reason that we lift up his sacrifice on the cross as the high moment in his life. We look at him bleeding and dieing on our behalf and for the will of his Father and we see glory… and we call him amazing… and he is. And as big as this moment was, I believe the high moment of his life was the night before he went to the cross. In this moment - the night before, he was alone… alone in the garden of Gethsemane. It was the moment of truth, the moment when no one else was watching, the moment of decision. It was on this night - the night before he went to the cross that he had his last chance to call it off. It was his last chance to settle down and have a regular life as a teacher or carpenter. He’d taken enough risk in his life to become a legend – he could write a book and live off the proceeds.
But he was being called by his father to something more, again. And even though he had doubt running through his mind and fear paralyzing him and deception crowding him from all angles, saying no was not much of an option. To him, saying no was pulling back from life itself. Saying no was putting one foot into another kind of grave. Something moved him to saying yes to this horror… this horror that Mel Gibson portrayed in his movie. Something moved him to boldly go where everyone said not to. That something was wisdom.
Remember how Longman defined the wise? He said a wise person is “someone who lives life with boldness in spite of inevitable difficulties.”
I believe that it was because of Jesus’ prior life decisions at those forks in the road – decisions to go the way of wisdom and not folly… …I believe it was these decisions that gave him the strength to make this big decision. It was a thousand little choices along the way that gave him what he needed to make this giant leap… to answer this huge call.
Or, as Dallas Willard said, “It was, finally, what was not in Jesus that made him invincible…” What was not in Jesus was folly. He didn’t spend time on that path and now in the biggest moment of his life he was able to make the right decision even under the most difficult circumstances. Jesus was acting out of another reality – the one we struggle to attain. He was acting out of that reality where God would have us – where we transcend conventional wisdom and engage life as we know it on a whole new level. He was wise – he boldly did the right thing in the face of incredible difficulty.
Got wisdom? Are you wise – boldly stepping into difficulty with the skills to get by? Are you immature and unformed but open to the path of wisdom? Are you stuck in folly – self-sufficient and hard to teach? The answer to these questions will dictate the answer to these questions: Can you live your life to the full, whatever it will bring? When you get called to something bigger than yourself will you have the strength to answer the call? Are you up for life’s difficulties?
Howard Hendricks always used to say, “As now, so then.” The path we’re on today will result in our decisions tomorrow. Is one foot in the grave? It’s not too late to get pulled out and step onto wisdom’s path.
Well, scientists have unveiled a new micro-world for us. We’re getting new perspective as a result. Jesus came to open up a different world for us. And he’s offering us the wisdom to live in that realm so that life no longer feels like a maze – chaotic and confusing. He’s offering us the skills to look life’s difficulties in the eye and navigate through them in fullness. He’s offering us a bird’s eye view of the paths before us. We know the benefits of wisdom and the dangers of folly. And now hopefully we have an appetite to grow in wisdom.
Next week we’ll look at how we acquire wisdom. In the meantime, I recommend some reading in Proverbs – it’s about 2/3’s the way through the Old Testament part of the Bible. It’s a relaxed 31 chapters.
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